Physiotherapy is concerned with helping people who have physical difficulties due to an injury, ageing or disability. If you’re a caring person who would enjoy helping those with physical ailments improve their movement, physiotherapy might be for you.

To become a fully-fledged physiotherapist will require a degree, but you are able to work as an assistant with your A-levels. As an assistant some of your responsibilities would include:

Helping prepare patients for treatment

Keeping reports up to date

Demonstrating exercises with patients

Setting up equipment

The NHS is a major employer within this industry, which could base you in a hospital, and there are a number of private clinics and leisure centres that also offer physiotherapy treatments.

The vast majority of these roles will be a standard 9-5 working day, although in some clinics you may be required to work in the evenings and weekends.

Skills & interests required for a career in Physiotherapy

Of course, an interest in health and physical fitness is going to help you in physiotherapy. You will also need an understanding of how the human body works, so a qualification in P.E. or biology may help you.

Physiotherapy can involve moving patient’s limbs and guiding them through their exercises. You have to be comfortable working in close proximity with people.

Sometimes physiotherapy can be a frustrating experience for patients, especially if they are not progressing as quickly as they would like. It’s important to be able to empathise with patients and encourage them through their treatment plan.- Organisation- Problem Solving- Teamwork- Time Management

Physiotherapy apprenticeships & other career progress routes for school leavers

As a physiotherapy assistant you would take on more responsibilities within the practice and in time be promoted to a senior physiotherapy assistant. In this role you could be in charge of a team of people.

There is also the option to progress your career by training as a physiotherapist. This would require you to take an accredited degree course, which could be done alongside your work. This would allow you to deliver treatment to patients.

Tips for getting into the field

Get in touch with local physiotherapy companies or your local NHS Trust and ask if you could do some work experience or shadowing. Through this you could see what the day-to-day work is like in a physiotherapy role.

What do Physiotherapy professionals get paid?

A physiotherapy assistant will begin on about £15,000 per annum and this will increase to £18,000 with experience. As a senior assistant, you can expect to earn up to £22,000.

As a qualified physiotherapist working for the NHS your salary will start somewhere between £22,000 and £29,000. With experience this could increase to £36,000, and highly specialised physiotherapists could earn £41,000.

What qualifications do I need for a career in Physiotherapy?

To become a fully qualified physiotherapist, the only option is to get a degree that has been accredited by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). As part of this course, you will do 1,000 hours of training to prepare you to jump straight into working after you have graduated.

However, in September 2018 a work-based degree in physiotherapy is expected to be launched, which will be an alternative to University that requires less time spent in a classroom.

In order to strengthen your chances to get onto these courses, you should take Biology at A-level. Some institutions will accept P.E instead of Biology, but not all of them.